ADDITION- Disney - Region FREE - Blu-ray  March 2010:  Firstly, there is also a package of this film in a DVD Keep case HERE - for the exact same price. The edition I am reviewing is housed in a standard Blu-ray case (inside slip-case) - although I suspect content is exactly the same with both also including the second disc DVD.

When you put the disc in you select your language (English, French or Spanish) and then you are directed to the appropriate menus. The film language versions are seamlessly branched to bring onscreen signs/text in relation to the language you have selected.

Good grief this looks good. This comparison exemplifies the huge difference between SD-DVD and Blu-ray.

Like my review of the Blu-rays of Toy Story, I think is also one of the most impressive looking and sounding discs I own. Color and detail jump to life - much more than I anticipated. This will be one of my first choices to demo my system to friends. As we have said in the past - digital animation is that it is essentially flawless - it should have none of the common deficiencies that we can find when transferring live-action film to high-definition digital - things like edge-enhancement or noise removal manipulation. Haze and blurriness are intentional effects to create the perception of motion. Out-of-focus experiences are simply created to make the true focal object more primary to our vision. By rendering digital animation to Blu-ray we should be able to obtain the highest accuracy of the original. This is a prime example and I'll wager it actually looks better than theatrical - dependant on your individual system. It is easily the absolute best I have ever seen the medium look on my plasma. Hopefully the screen captures will bear this out.

The DTS-HD Master 5.1 track at a healthy 4025 kbps is equal to it's predecessor, Toy Story on Blu-ray, in the purity of the sound. effects are incredibly crisp zipping to the rear channels and seemingly all over the room. The audio remains as 'reference' as the video with effects producing incredibly dynamic range. There are optional subtitles and my Momitsu has identified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.

We get the same commentary but an hour's worth of new material - all in HD and another plug for the highly anticipated Toy Story 3 running 2-minutes longer than the one in the Toy Story Blu-ray. In the Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs: - Episode Two: The International Space Station – Buzz reports back about his adventure to the International Space Station for a brief 3 3/4 minutes. Paths to Pixar: Artists – In this series of shorts, Pixar artists talk about their career path and share advice to aspiring filmmakers and animators. Studio Stories: A series of amusing anecdotal shorts about life at Pixar. “Toy Story 2 Sleep Deprivation Lab” gives audiences a short inside peek into the intense time pressures under which the Toy Story 2 editors found themselves. “Studio Stories: Pinocchio” shows an impromptu competition between the animators to decorate their workspace by throwing toys into the ceiling running 2 1/4 minutes. “Studio Stories: The Movie Vanishes” tells how a mischievous technical error almost erased all of Toy Story 2 from the computer system. Pixar’s Zoetrope - A look at the creation of the live-action zoetrope that Pixar created to capture the principles of animation in a live sculpture. Celebrating our Friend Joe Ranft - is a 12-minute tribute to beloved Disney and Pixar story man, the late Joe Ranft, regarded as one of the industry's most gifted story artists. The Blu-ray disc is BD-LIVE enabled (untested at the time of review). Ohh.. and the disc has the ability to restart where you last left off (this is not the player bit the disc itself).

I was suspecting that the 2nd disc DVD would simply be the first disc from the last special edition, but actually is standard for Disney Blu-ray releases, the package comes in a 2-Disc combo pack that includes an additional copy of the film on standard definition DVD.    

Along with Toy Story, this is the most beautiful looking and sounding disc I own. My two kids sat hypnotically - even after all this time. I can't wait for The Incredibles and Finding Nemo but as it stands this Blu-ray gets our highest ever recommendation. It seems this is the gold standard at present. You won't, ever, be disappointed in your purchase.

 - Gary Tooze